Goodbye old friends

Almost 15 years ago, I started this blog with the following post:

My mom called and told us that some friends of hers had a
litter of puppies that, to qoute [sic], “were the cutest things ever”. I
asked Sherri if she wanted to see them. Yea, that was a mistake. We
ended up picking two out, one black and white, one brown. Sherri choose
the names Aggie (Agatha Christie) and Dash (Dashiell Hammett). We’ll
pick them up in two weeks. They were so small.

What followed was an amazing experience that few pet owners
get. Over the next decade and a half, I got married (to Sherri),
had a kid (Gideon), expanded the house, changed jobs, and a thousand
other things that affected my life in so many different ways.
Throughout it all were Dash and Aggie. They were an unchanging
pair of rambunctious, loving pets that gave me joy and
frustration. They became a part of my life.

In November of 2014, Dash had come to the end of his life. He
was experiencing Degenerative Myelopathy, the canine equivalent of ALS
(Lou Gehrig’s disease). It had effectively paralyzed his back
legs, resulting in his inability to do much beyond lay around.
After watching him deteriorate to this state, Sherri and I decided to
have him euthanized. It was a devastating decision that anyone who
takes on a pet must take responsibility to make. They must weigh
their desire to keep their otherwise healthy pet around against the
suffering they are experiencing. It is never easy.

A few months later Aggie had a stroke that left her confused and
disoriented. The vet said she would not improve and again we had
to make the decision to help her to the end of her life.

It’s been over a year since we had them euthanized. We did it because we loved them and we didn’t want them to suffer.